U.S. exited recession in June 2009

In this September 16, 2010 photo a homeless man looks for used clothes at a community centre in San Jose, California . The National Bureau of Economic Research that dates the beginning and end of recessions says the U.S. recession lasted 18 months between December 2007 and June 2009.

The U.S. economy exited recession in June 2009, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) said on Monday, making it official that the downturn was the longest in more than half a century.

More than eight million jobs were lost in the slump that was triggered by dodgy Wall Street mortgage investments.

President Barack Obama said the end of the “Great Recession” would come as little solace to the millions of people who are still out of work. “Even though economists may say that the recession officially ended last year, obviously for the millions of people who are still out of work, people who have seen their home values decline, people who are struggling to pay the bills day to day, it's still very real for them.”

The NBER underscored that slow pace of recovery as it issued a statement that confirmed: “The recession lasted 18 months, which makes it the longest of any recession since World War II.”

“The committee did not conclude that economic conditions since that month have been favourable or that the economy has returned to operating at normal capacity,” it noted, pointedly.

At the same time, it warned that “economic activity is typically below normal in the early stages of an expansion, and it sometimes remains so well into the expansion.”

OECD warning

Earlier, on Monday, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development warned that the U.S. economy would grow at a slower-than-expected rate of 1.5 per cent this year.

The Paris-based OECD said the U.S. growth would be far less than the 3.2 per cent predicted in May, and would increase to only 2.3 per cent next year, raising the spectre of a painfully slow recovery.

“The United States is slowly recovering from a severe recession and, with economic growth projected to remain low for some time,” the OECD said.

It said “unemployment is likely to stay elevated for a relatively long period. Continuation of targeted support for the labour market may also be necessary until private sector employment picks up more strongly.”

But there is some good news.

Despite economists' warnings of a double-dip recession, the NBER said the economy had already recovered enough that any new slide would be an entirely new recession.